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The Chicago Tribune has endorsed U.S. Rep. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL,8) in the race for Illinois' senate seat. The newspaper has previously endorsed incumbent Mark Kirk (R) in each of his races for political office.

In January of 2012, Kirk suffered an ischemic stroke, returning to Congress a year later. Kirk has been declared mentally fit to do his job as a congressman and regained use of his left side, but he does use a cane or wheelchair and sometimes appears to struggle with his speech.

The newspaper took the congressman's current state of health into consideration in opting to support his challenger in the November election.

U.S. Rep. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL,8) was at the University of Illinois at Chicago Wednesday morning to talk with students about higher education and college affordability.

"I can't think of something more important as an investment to our nation than making sure that we make college affordable, and that we get to a point where students are not starting off life with tremendous amounts of student loan debt," Duckworth told reporters after the town hall.

The event, sponsored by UIC student organizations and Young Invincibles Action, was supposed to be a candidate forum, but Kirk declined to participate, Duckworth said.

The congresswoman used the event to detail college affordability proposals she is sponsoring in the U.S. House, namely the "In the Red Act." The proposal would adjust Pell Grants for inflation, allow borrowers to refinance student debt at lower interest rates and provide students with two years of tuition-free community college.

Environmentalists are following U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk (R-IL) on the campaign trail this week to counter his "Illinois First" bus tour message.

NextGen Climate Illinois is showing up at Kirk's campaign stops as part of its own bus tour, called "Kirk First." The environmental group wants to hold "Senator Kirk accountable for his actions" and show "voters how he puts his own self interests above those of Illinois."

"Despite what he'd like constituents to believe, Senator Kirk has shown that he does not put 'Illinois First,'" NextGen Climate Illinois spokeswoman Katie Cronin said in a statement. "He has voted to protect tax breaks for Big Oil and has voted to block the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating carbon pollution. It is clear that Senator Kirk does what he thinks he has to do to get re-elected at the expense of the people of Illinois."

U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk (R-IL) and U.S. Rep. Bob Dold (R-IL,10) are among the elected officials scheduled to attend a Wednesday morning roundtable discussion in Chicago on "commonsense" immigration reform.

U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren joined U.S. Rep. Tammy Duckworth at a Chicago campaign event Friday to talk retirement security with seniors and other supporters. Progress Illinois provides highlights from the discussion.

Tuesday is Equal Pay Day, marking how far into 2016 women must work in order to earn what men made in 2015.

Women today still earn just 79 cents on average for every dollar paid to men. For African-American women and Latinas, the wage gap widens to 60 cents and 55 cents, respectively, according to an analysis by the National Partnership for Women & Families.

Equal pay advocates say it's time to end the gender wage gap, which could be closed in part by passage of the long-proposed federal Paycheck Fairness Act. Under the bill, employees could share salary information between co-workers without retaliation, among other provisions.

U.S. Rep. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL,8) is among the Democratic cosponsors of the Paycheck Fairness Act. Duckworth, who is running for incumbent Mark Kirk's (R-IL) Senate seat, is seeking to draw a contrast with her opponent on equal pay issues.